Foreigners will have to pay to read The Times online (in the UK), with tariffs levied on 10 separate channels. The newspaper, part of the Murdoch empire, says it can identify overseas visitors with "90 per cent accuracy,".
"The free ride is over and the days of free content have gone," Paul Hayes, the general manager of Times Newspapers, told the Media Guardian (see link below).
The Times charges for some online content already, most notably for access to its famous crossword section. It is also to start charging for access to law reports and for a new World Cup section, the Guardian reports.
So what will happen when the charges are introduced: first the reader numbers will drop, and then the advertising revenues will follow. Overseas readers will tip up at for their UK fix at The BBC and the Guardian Online and, so long as it remains free, the Electronic Telegraph.
News source: The Register
View: The Guardian - Times to charge for internet services
View: UK: The Times Online (but you have to pay for the crossword! ;) )
